The nature of state and sovereignty in medieval India
The nature of State in
Medieval India, has been a topic of great controversy amongst the scholar.
Scholars like Dr. R.P. Ashraf, Dr. Ishwari Prasad, Prof. A.L. Srivastava, etc.
hold that the Muslim state in Medieval India was theocracy. for instance Dr.
R.P. Tripathi says, “All the institutions that the Muslims either evolved or
adopted were intended to sub-serve the law.” Similarly Dr. Ishwari Parsad says
that like other Muslim states, the state in Medieval India was a theocracy. The
nature of State in Medieval India, The king was both Caesar also as Pope. But,
his authority was restricted by the principles of Shariat.
The nature of State in Medieval India, His rule was supported religion and therefore the Ulemas predominated the State. However, certain other writers like Dr. I.H. Qureshi holds, “The supremacy of the shar” has misled some into thinking that the Sultanate was a theocracy. The essential feature of a theocracy— the rule of an ordained priesthood—is however, missing within the organisation of Muslim state; the jurists are laymen who claim no sacerdotal immunity from error. The nature of State in Medieval India, Gibb is true in calling the Islamic policy theocentric. Even Mohammad Habib says, “It (Muslim state in India) wasn't a theocratic state in any sense of the word” which “its foundation was, nevertheless, non-religious and secular.” in sight of the 2 conflicting views offered by the students regarding the character of the state in Medieval India, it becomes imperative to look at this issue more thoroughly.
First of all, we
must attempt to determine what's meant by theocracy. Only then we'll be ready
to reach some conclusion regarding the character of state in Medieval India.
The nature of State in Medieval India, The term theocracy springs from the
Greek word theos, meaning God. Therefore, a theocratic state is one which is
governed by God or sacerdotal class. within the first place, we will accept as
true with Dr. Qureshi that there was no ordained or hereditary priesthood in
Medieval India which is that the essential feature of a theocracy. The Jurists
were laymen who claimed no sacerdotal immunity from error and certain laymen
like lbn Battuta acted as Qazi of Delhi during Muhammad bin Tughlaq.
The nature of State in
Medieval India, However, the appointment of lbn Battuta was a singular case. It
can't be denied that mostly the Jurists were taken from class of Ulemas. These
Ulemas were orthodox and wielded great influence with the Sultan. Even Dr.
Yusuf Husain has testified that these Ulemas were orthodox and got education in
Madrasas. This education had a definite religious voice. The Jurists andadvisers of the Sultans and kings were appointed from amongst these Ulemas and
that they interpreted the Shara (Islamic law). The nature of State in Medieval
India, consistent with lbn Hasan, “The protection of Shariat has two aspects:
The propagation of the knowledge of Shara and its enforcement as law within the
state The one implies the maintenance of a category of students dedicated to
the study, the teaching and therefore the propagation of that knowledge, and
therefore the other the appointment of 1 Prom those scholars…as an adviser to
the king in ail acts of state. the students dedicated to that knowledge are
called Ulema and therefore the one selected from among them is termed Shaikh-ul-Islam”
The nature of State in
Medieval India, He further says that the Shaikh-ul-Islam was the representative
of Ulema and it had been his duty to bring “to the notice of the king what he
thought detrimental or prejudicial to the interest of his religion, and
therefore the king had little option in acting upon such an advice.
The Shaikh-ul-Islam not only
supervised the tutorial institutions but also exercised a kind of censorship
over the books prescribed, in various educational institutions also as over the
moral ideas of the people. The nature of State in Medieval India, The
Shaikh-ul-Islam also kept an in depth touch with the Muslim scholars to make
sure a daily supply of Muslim theologians.
These Ulemas exercised great
influence on the rulers. Henry Bloch-mann says although Islam has no state
clergy, but we discover a counterpart to our hierarchical bodies within the
Ulemas about the court from whom the Sadars of the provinces, the Mir Adils,
Muftis and Qazis were appointed. The nature of State in Medieval India, At
Delhi and Agra, the body of the learned had always consisted of staunch Sunnis,
who believed it their duty to stay the kings straight.
How great their influence was, could also be seen from the very fact that of all Muhammaden emperors only Akbar, and maybe Alauddin Khilji, succeeded in putting down this haughty sect.
The nature of State in
Medieval India, The second feature of a theocracy is that the prevalence of the
law of God, or religious law (as against secular law). it's admitted by most
the students that the Medieval Indian state was run on the dictates of the
Shara. Dr. Qureshi himself admits that Shara, “is supported the Quran which is
believed by every Muslim to be the word of God revealed to his prophet Muhammad
…On these two rocks—the Quran and Hadis (the prophet’s interpretation on the
revelation embodies in his tradition) is made the structure of Muslim Law… The
nature of State in Medieval India,. This Law was the particular sovereign in
Muslim lands” In other words, we will say that it's admitted on all hands that
the Law which prevailed during Medieval India was Shara, it had been not a
secular Law.
This religious law naturally went against the interests of the non-Muslim population of the country which was in majority. it's admitted on all hands that the Hindu population suffered from variety of disabilities. The nature of State in Medieval India, These included the imposition of an invidious taxation Jazia.
According to Abu Hanifah;
Jazia was collected from the Hindu as an alternate to death. it had been
imposed for the primary time in India by Muhammad Bin Qasim, the conqueror of
Sindh because he couldn't apply the Quranic law strictly on the Hindus who were
in much greater numerical strength. The nature of State in Medieval India, He
followed an policy of spiritual tolerance towards Hindus of Sindh and Multan.
This precedent was followed
by the later Turkish and Afghan rulers of India. The nature of State in
Medieval India, Sir Jadunath Sarkar says that it had been considered to be the
very best duty of the Muslim rulers to hold on Jihad by “waging war against
infidel lands (Dar-ul-Harb) till they became a neighborhood of the realm of
Islam (Dar-ul-Islam), and their populations are converted into true believers.
During the rule of the first
Muslim rulers, the Hindus were relegated to an inferior position and weren't
permitted to watch their religious rites publicly . The nature of State in
Medieval India, They were also not
permitted to hold on any religious propaganda or to create new temples or
repair the old ones, Certain disabilities were also imposed on them with
reference to civic rights and employment under the State.
The nature of State in
Medieval India, In tact they were considered as mediocre citizens as compared
to the Muslim population. Prof A.L. The nature of State in Medieval India,
Srivastava says “Throughout the amount of the Sultanate of Delhi (1206 —1526)
and actually for nearly 40 years after its extinction, there existed in our
country two grades of citizenship—the superior grade for Muslims who
constituted the privileged class, and therefore the inferior grade for the
Hindus who were treated as a depressed class in their own homeland.”
The Brahmans were exempted
from the Jazia by the first Sultans but Firoz Tughlaq imposed Jazia on them
also. The nature of State in Medieval India, This was greatly resented by the
Brahmans and that they resorted to fast. consistent with Afif, seeing miserable
conditions of the Brahmans the Hindus of Delhi visited them and said that they
ought to not sacrifice their lives for the sake of jazia and offered to pay
jazia on their behalf.
V.A. Smith says that as a
result Firoz Tughlaq became little lenient and reduced the quantity of jazia to
be paid by the Brahmans, but he didn't fully exempted them from this tax. The
nature of State in Medieval India, Dr. Pandey is of the opinion that jazia was
only collected from the Hindus living within the cities, and people living
within the countryside weren't subjected thereto for the aim of realisation of
jazia the whole population was divided into three categories: those belonging
to the primary category had to pay 48 dirhams while those belonging to the
second and third categories had to pay 24 and 12 dirhams respectively. The
nature of State in Medieval India, Women, children, beggars and lame people
were exempted from jazia. This tax was purely a spiritual tax and was a
transparent proof of discriminatory policy followed by the contemporary rulers.
All the rulers during the
Medieval times were sure to rule consistent with the law of Islam. The nature
of State in Medieval India, Though the Muslim rulers were permitted to border
new laws consistent with the circumstances with the counsel of wise men, but
only a few rulers dared to border such laws and therefore the Shara continued
to be supreme throughout the Sultanate period.
The nature of State in Medieval
India, Many rulers during Medieval times were tolerant naturally but none
(except Akbar) could ever dare to form laws which could ensure equity and fair
play to all or any the sections of the population. The nature of State in
Medieval India, We don't encounter any law or regulation promulgated by the
opposite Medieval Indian rulers to the present effect. it had been for the
primary time- Akbar, who promulgated variety of regulations for the great of
the people.
These regulations included
the abolition of the practice of enslaving prisoners of war, pilgrim tax and
jazia. The nature of State in Medieval India, Akbar also passed number of laws
imposing restrictions on the sale of liquor,, child marriage, restraining of
early marriage, prohibition of sati, widow re-marriage etc.
He took a bold step of
according freedom to the people to settle on the faith of their choice. He even
permitted the forcibly converted people to travel back to their original
religion. The nature of State in Medieval India, Although, Akbar laid down
certain rules and regulations, these survived only during his life time.
Furthermore the orthodox nobles and Ulemas greatly disliked these rules.
In the third place, we
discover that in the Medieval times no ruler might be safe on his throne unless
he enforced the Shara. The nature of State in Medieval India, No doubt, certain
rulers like Ala-ud-Din Khilji and Muhammad Tughlaq made efforts to free
themselves from the restraints of Shara but this was greatly resented by the
Ulemas.
The nature of State in
Medieval India, That is why the Ulemas obtained from the successors of those
two rulers an assurance that they might rule consistent with the tenets of
justice and law. it's documented to the scholars of Medieval Indian history
that Firoz Shah Tughlaq fully lived up to undertaking and carried on his
administration consistent with the religious laws.
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